Ireland The great theme of British internal politics in the summer of 1914 was the Irish Crisis. Since 1910, the Asquith Liberal government had been supported in the British Parliament by the votes of Irish nationalists who sought home rule for Ireland. The prospect that the Third Home Rule Bill would be passed in 1914 was welcomed by Catholic and nationalist circles in the south of Ireland. The Protestant majority in the north, however, refused to countenance the extension of Irish autonomy to t…

Troop Strength The initial numbers of soldiers mobilized for immediate wartime service. The peacetime strength of the individual armies before 1914 provided the foundation for troop strength in the war. A cadre of commanders for reserve units and an attachment of reservists for these troop units were included in their mobilization plans. This would make it possible to raise units to wartime strength once the mobilization was begun. The troop strengths planned in the event of war, and the troop str…

Armed Forces (Dominions) The settler colonies of the British Empire (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa) had already acquired the status of dominions prior to 1914, as part of a constitutional development towards full independence. Self-determination in domestic matters had already been granted to Canada in 1867, to Australia in 1901, to New Zealand in 1907, and to South Africa in 1910. The British declaration of war on Germany in 1914 was binding for all dominions, since London still…

Soldiers’ Newspapers Collective term for publications that were produced in the immediate vicinity of the front (front and trench newspapers) or in the rear areas by the official military authorities (army and corps newspapers). The editorial staffs of the soldiers’ newspapers consisted mostly of officers, but also of lower-ranking soldiers. Many soldiers’ newspapers printed official war bulletins and “eyewitness accounts” of recent events that had been written down by the war participants themsel…

Mazumder, Rajit K. - From Loyalty to Dissent: Punjabis from the Great War to World War II
Keywords: Ghadar | Punjabis | rural loyalty | World War II
ISFWWS-Keywords: India | Home fronts | The French and British Empires | Politics | Soldiers and Combat | Violence against civilians
Abstract: This chapter discusses the unique relationship between communities recruited from Punjab and the colonial state in British India between c.1914 and c.1947. It demonstrates the loyalty of enlisted groups, reciprocating decades of favourable tre…

Syk, Andrew - Command in the Indian Expeditionary Force D: Mesopotamia, 1915–16
Keywords: Baghdad | First World War | Indian Army commanders | Indian Expeditionary Force | Mesopotamia
ISFWWS-Keywords: India | Middle East | Military organisation of combat | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | The French and British Empires | Experience of combat
Abstract: The growth of German influence within the Ottoman Empire, after the turn of the century and manifested in construction of the Baghdad Railway, threatened British influence and trade in…

New Zealand New Zealand shared many World War experiences with its larger Pacific neighbor Australia. Yet there existed just as many differences which could not be erased by the fact that the troops of both states fought in joint contingents like the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) for most of the war. The military organization before the war was based on a territorial militia established in 1909, with a total strength of 25,000 men. Under the military service laws, the stationing of…

Minohara, Tosh; Hon, Tze-ki; Dawley, Evan - Japan and the Wider World in the Decade of the Great War: Introduction
ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | Naval Warfare | Politics | Economy | The French and British Empires | International Relations during the War | Pre-war period | The United States of America | Legacy | Russia | Gender | Society | Scandinavia | Science, Technology, and Medicine | Australia | New Zealand | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | Poland
The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014)
Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014
e-ISBN: 978900…

Canada Canada was ill prepared for war in August 1914. The affluent were enjoying the August 1–3 civic holiday at their country houses. The less affluent were suffering from the effects of the worst economic depression since the early 1890s. Only the energetic but unpredictable Minister of Militia and Defence Sam Hughes was enthused by the prospect of war. His only concern was that the British might miss the opportunity. Under his command, some 55,000 militiamen and 44,000 cadets were trained in 1913. These men would comprise the bulk of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). At first re…

Anderson, Ross - Logistics of the Indian Expeditionary Force D in Mesopotamia: 1914–18
Keywords: British officers | IEFD | Indian Army | Mesopotamia
ISFWWS-Keywords: India | Middle East | Military organisation of combat | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | The French and British Empires | Experience of combat
Abstract: On 6 November 1914, the landing of the Indian Army's 16th Infantry Brigade at Fao, in the
Vilayet of Basra in Mesopotamia initiated land hostilities between the British and the Ottoman empires. Part of the IEFD, these 4,700 soldiers…

Showalter, Dennis - The Indianization of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1917–18: An Imperial Turning Point
Keywords: British Army | Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) | Great War | Indian Army | Sir Edmund Allenby
ISFWWS-Keywords: India | Middle East | Military organisation of combat | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | The French and British Empires | Experience of combat | Aviation | Religion | Science | Technology | Medicine
Abstract: When Sir Edmund Allenby ceremonially walked into Jerusalem on 11 December 1917, he symbolized the end of the Britis…

Roy, Kaushik - Indian Cavalry from the First World War till the Third Afghan War
Keywords: First World War | France | Indian cavalry | Mesopotamia | Palestine | Third Afghan War
ISFWWS-Keywords: India | Military organisation of combat | Experience of combat | Legacy | Soldiers and Combat | The French and British Empires | Middle East | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | Published memoirs and biographies
Abstract: This chapter argues that it is ahistorical to analyze the evolution of armies and warfare by using universal concepts like modern warfare.…